this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. profits at hsbcfal133% during 2019, as the bank — which makes 90% of its profits in asia — struggles with tough market conditions. and — how will the coronavirus outbreak affect the travel industry? we will find out when intercontinental hotel group reports later this morning. and on financial markets — they are all headed lower in asia — apple says the coronavirus impact will hit its sales — so apple suppliers in asia, including tdk and tokyo electron, are seeing their shares sink.

europe's biggest bank by assets, hsbc holdings, has posted a 33% fall in annual pre—tax profit, massivly below expectations. the bank — which makes half of its revenue and 90% of its profits in asia — posted a profit of $13.35 billion for 2019, down from $19.89 billion a year earlier. let's go to our asia business hub, where maura fogarty is following the story. good to see you, maura. let's start with that big drop in earnings. do we know more detail as to what's going on?

yeah, essentially, they have written down about $7 billion worth of their business in europe. that tells you exactly just how pessimistic they are about their business in europe. so, no surprises there that the they're pessimistic. what was surprising was that they took that write—down of goodwill and said overnight, "that's over and done with — by the way, we're also exiting some of those businesses — notjust in europe, but also in the us." what are those businesses? mostly in investment banking. hsbc - mostly in investment banking. hsbc — like many other global banks — expanded very rapidly in the last 20 years, and got into investment banking, which has under—performed. they‘ re scaling back and focusing on what they say they do best — focusing on the customer, the retail, and the corporate side. tell us more detail about those plans. there were rumours there'd be an announcement of a lot ofjob cuts today. we've not heard anything about that, have we, yet? notjust yet - and that exactly was one of the key figures we were looking out for this morning, sally. you know, what's interesting is

that this was a plan put forth by an interim ceo who's essentially auditioning for the topjob. the essentially auditioning for the top job. the chairman essentially auditioning for the topjob. the chairman of hsbc has said they are currently on the search for a new ceo. he's appointed an interim one. this man — noel quinn — is now putting a plan in place which he hopes to execute. the three pillars of that plan include — no. 1 pillars of that plan include — no.1— pillars of that plan include — no. 1 — cutting costs by us$4.5 billion. that will be done by selling off some businesses, but also by cutting layers of management. hsbc is well—known for having a very bureaucratic and top—heavy management style, 01’ and top—heavy management style, or management structure, i would say. so he's looking to make it a much leaner and meaner machine, so to speak. second thing i mentioned — they're selling off some businesses they don't want to participate in anymore. and third thing — they're doubling—down in asia. hong kong and mainland china are their biggest markets in terms of reve nu es their biggest markets in terms of revenues and profits. they're going to refocus there, invest more in those areas. it'll be a pretty tricky

strategy, given the three headwinds of those places right 110w — headwinds of those places right now — political instability in hong kong from the protests last year, the effects of the extended us—china trade war and the slowdown in the economy, and of course the coronavirus as well. how the market perceives this plan will determine, to some extent, how well he gets the job or not. all right. thank you for now. maura fogerty in our bureau in singapore. now let's brief you on some other business stories. apple has warned that disruption in china from the coronavirus will mean revenues falling short of forecasts. the tech giant said production and sales were affected, and that "worldwide iphone supply will be temporarily constrained". the iphone maker is the first major us company to say that the epidemic will hit its finances. amazon founderjeff bezos has announced a $10 billion fund to help fight climate change. his company is facing intense internal and external criticism over its own environmental impact. the world's richest man said he would start issuing grants this summer to support

"scientists, activists, ngos — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world". the owner of holiday inn, crowne plaza and intercontinental hotel brands is set to unveil its latest numbers, with investors closely watching for the impact the coronavirus outbreak will have on the firm. the intercontinental hotels group has a43 hotels in china, hong kong, macau and taiwan, with four in wuhan and another nearly 400 more in the pipeline. and you can see why — in 2018, 62.9 million tourists visited china, ranking it as the world's fourth—most—popular tourist destination. however, with parts of the

country in lockdown, it's estimated that 85,000 flights to and from china have been cancelled — and that affects more than just airlines. ihg is currently offering free cancellations until the end of the month for bookings made directly for its hotels in greater china. katherine doggrell, editor at questex hospitality, joins me now. good to see you, katherine. morning. if we start with ihg - it is quite exposed, isn't it, to coronavirus? it's more exposed than most. if you look at somewhere like hilton, where 296 at somewhere like hilton, where 2% of their ebitda is coming from china, it's more like four times that for ihg. it's still 8%- times that for ihg. it's still 8% — not huge. for china and ihg, it'sa 8% — not huge. for china and ihg, it's a future story — 30% of their pipeline is there, ceo keith barr spent four years as the ceo of greater china. they know the market. but it's not about now — they're hoping to contain this, as everyone is. it's interesting to see how it's impacted from a short—term perspective but, as you say,

for the long—term, for ihg and other companies like this, the tourism industry in china is huge, isn't it, looking forward ? huge, isn't it, looking forward? yes. china's where everyone's looking to offset. at the moment in the us, we're likely to see results from ihg which will be very similar to everywhere else — where they'll see pressure in the us — supply is now outstripping demand or approaching that area. so what you mean by that is... they need to be more global. in the us, the number of hotel rooms available outweigh the number of people who are trying to book them. so they're going to make less money in the us. is the market more saturated in developed economies? it's not saturated in terms of the brands — holiday inn and holiday inn express — they've got to capacity there. that's why we'll see more brands coming up — marriott with 30 different brands — all looking to other options. as you say, the chief executive, keith barr — who the chief executive, keith barr —whoi the chief executive, keith barr — who i will be speaking to when their results are out later this morning — he has really invested in china, in wuhan alone they have quite a

few hotels. in the short—term, this is a real problem for them in terms of how they respond, what their policies are in place, and how they protect their customers, and how they refu nd their customers, and how they refund those who decide, "we're not travelling." refund those who decide, "we're not travelling. " yes, refund those who decide, "we're not travelling." yes, no doubt there'll be a short—term hit, and it will hit ihg more than anyone else, which is why their share price has suffered more than anyone else at the moment. it's not just than anyone else at the moment. it's notjust the mowny, though, is it? it'sjust how well they respond as an organisation to people's concerns and fears — they might have people in hotels who have it. it's that kind of thing, isn't it? yes. the important thing is — this has happened before, it will happen again. it's all about government response as well. everyone needs to work with each other. look at the cruise ship off japan — which governments are taking people home, who's repatriateling what, where are you putting travel bans in... everyone needs to work together. katherine, thank you very much indeed for coming in. asi very much indeed for coming in. as i say, we'll be talking to keith barr later, when those results come out. in the last few months, two of america's largest dairy producers filed for bankruptcy,

including the country's largest dairy producer. and in the last decade, the number of dairy farmers in the us has dropped by 30%. there are a few factors contributing to the decline of america's dairy industry, one of which is what you're ordering at your local coffee shop. samira hussain reports from new york. i have two oat milk cappuccinos. this local coffee shop in brooklyn offers three kinds of milk... flat white with oat milk. ..and only one of those comes from a cow. what kind of coffee did you just order? turmeric chai. and what kind of milk? oat milk. and what kind of milk do you use? typically almond milk, or coconut. i use soy milk and then almond milk. of all the alternative milks out there on the market, oat is the newcomer and its popularity has skyrocketed, with sales in the us surging more than 600% last year. they are pretty popular. i consider them kind of the norm at this point. i actually am kind of surprised when people order whole milk. i actually am kind of surprised an oat milk makes up only a small part of the alternative milk market

which, in 2017, was worth almost $18 billion. far from the trendy coffee shops of new york city, it is in america's hinterland where the impact of those changing taste preferences is being felt. rick osofsky has been farming since he was a child. his father was a farmer, his children and grandchildren are also farmers. when i was a kid growing up, every block, every mile, there was another farm and you always believed they'd always be there, and now you drive down some of these back roads, you see all these farms and barns are falling down and no—one's there anymore. it is so depressing. demand for alternative milks may be on the rise, but sales of cow's milk has been declining for years. milk consumption in the us has plummeted 40% since 1970 and american farmers have been bearing the brunt of the decline. in the last decade, 20,000 us dairy farms have closed.

with americans drinking less and less milk, the danger to us farmers is clear. on the farm, bankruptcies are on the rise and profits are being squeezed, and this long—term shift in tastes — well, that could threaten the future of one of america's oldest industries. samira hussain, bbc news, pine plains, new york. that's it for the business briefing this hour jacqueline du pre's career as one of the most gifted and celebrated cellists of the twentieth century was cut short by multiple sclerosis. she was just 42 when she died. more than three decades later, her life has inspired a new work by the royal ballet.

our arts editor will gompertz reports. the cellist is a story of love and loss between a woman and an object — the musicianjacqueline du pre and her cello. the cello, you know, it looks like a person. we refer to its neck, its body, its voice. its sound is very much like the human voice. lauren cuthbertson plays the cellist, the ballet tells jacqueline du pre's life story, charting her rise to international superstardom followed by a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, forcing her to give up her beloved cello. the moment when you know something is wrong but you don't know what it is i think must be horrific, especially when, you know, she couldn't feel her fingers. she had this tingling sensation. the weight of the bow was not feeling as it had done before. there are two subjects,

i suppose, in this ballet. there is the cello as a subject and then there is jacqueline du pre's illness, which is multiple sclerosis, which your mother also has. yes. in terms of my mother and ms, i think it gave me confidence to explore that condition, because i'm, you know, seeing it in a very personal way. but it's not a ballet about ms. it's a ballet about someone who finds their voice, finds their identity and loses it. this isn't a tragedy only, it's also a celebration that such talent exists, this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the us tech giant apple has warned that it

won't achieve its forecast revenues for this financial quarter because of the coronavirus outbreak. both production and demand in china have been affected. with 800,000 people displaced since december, combined with freezing conditions, the united nations says the offensive in idlib has created a major humanitarian crisis. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. the new coronavirus outbreak could impact millions of businesses worldwide, according to a new study by global research firm dun and bradstreet. online magazine the verge highlights apple — the compa ny‘s warned revenus will be lower than expected. the independent carries the resignation of andrew sabisky, the controversial downing street aide the paper says was "a special advisor who was too extreme even for number 10."

the times headlines the story that the world's richest man is giving $10 billion of his personal wealth to fight climate change. jeff bezos announced on instagram the creation of the bezos earth fund. before you die, please think about your digital and genetic afterlife. the financial times speaks to researchers about the huge body of personal information left behind after death which, according to them, " requires careful handling." and liars may tell tales because they have ‘pea—sized brains', according to the telegraph. a new study by scientists says children who are often naughty should be given more help to save them from a life of crime. the size of the brain is a p pa re ntly the size of the brain is apparently evidenced to be an issue. with me is lawrence gosling, editor—in—chief of what investment. lots of what investment. to